Earlier this year, parishes and schools across San Diego and Imperial counties held 1,100 small-group sessions to listen to the faithful’s experiences in the Church and their hopes for its future, in a process called a synod.
Parishes, schools and other Catholic organizations submitted reports to the diocese that summarized the points made by participants in the small-group sessions. They included parishioners, students and individuals living on the margins of society, such as the homeless, new immigrants, farmworkers, the incarcerated and formerly incarcerated.
The report is available in English and Spanish in the July issue of The Southern Cross and on the webpage sdcatholic.org/synod, which also presents information about the entire consultation.
Some excerpts from the report:
The synodal dialogues revealed a profound split within the Catholic community about the issues of acceptance versus conformity with rules.
Many men and women spoke of their disagreement with the idea that the Church will not ordain women or married priests, and these participants pointed to a history and culture of according only a secondary status to the group that forms the majority of the believers and volunteers in the Church. The LGBT community got even more attention than women. There were significant expressions of support for the Church’s efforts to invite LGBT Catholics into the heart of the Church at the present moment, but a sadness that these efforts are not more widely and deeply embedded.
“The Church does not seem to have a clear message on how they view people who have same-sex attraction or LGBT,” one participant said. “There does not seem to be a clear guidance on that issue.” Many participants expressed the view that Church doctrine is quite clear on debated issues, but the Church’s current leadership has intentionally obscured that teaching on LGBT issues and other topics, including abortion. These Catholics raise concerns that Pope Francis has introduced a corrosive ambiguity into the heart of Catholic moral doctrine. They are highly critical of Bishop McElroy for this same reason. Participants who share this viewpoint worry that Catholic doctrine lies on a slippery slope in these days, and propose that sharpening the line between the Church and secular society would have a reinvigorating effect for the Catholic community.
The ideological divisions of the current moment are tragically present in parish communities, leaving individuals ranging from proponents of Laudato Si to homeschool families with the sense that they are suspect by significant elements of the parish community. Even though Catholic social teaching calls for a dedication to the wide spectrum of issues that are morally compelling in the present moment, there is dramatic disagreement about what this means. Many participants believe that the preeminence of abortion as a moral evil in our society constitutes an overriding claim upon the Catholic conscience; these men and women see fighting for legal protections for the unborn as purely a moral issue, not a political one. The countervailing group in the parishes see poverty, race, immigration and the environment as an equally important set of issues to be addressed in society.
Immediately after the completion of the synodal dialogues, the Commissions recognized that there had to be timely followup to major issues which had surfaced in our parishes and at the diocesan level. During the dialogues, many participants expressed the fear that the conclusions of the listening sessions would simply be put on the shelf; that no substantive follow-up would occur. The commissions felt that there was a great danger of this happening, especially because the global process points to the culmination of the synod and an Apostolic exhortation in 2024.
Full story at The Southern Cross.
Infiltration.
LGBT Catholics are welcome at the heart of the Church. And, all Masses are “all are welcome” Masses. That said, those persisting in sexual sin, heterosexual or otherwise, and not repenting are not to be admitted to Communion. As the Vatican said last year, “gay” unions cannot be blessed because God can’t bless sin. Some are, obviously, trying to change Church teaching on this matter. It seems San Diego, like other dioceses, has some Catholics and some Catholics In Name Only. Moses didn’t come down Mount Sinai and announce, “God would like to hear your thoughts on these things and will change His will and nature accordingly.” They are not the Ten Proposals.
And yet, even the 10 Commandments were modified by the Church. The Church does not observe the Third Commandment, which commands keeping the Sabbath Day holy. The Sabbath is Saturday. The Church has transferred that to Sunday. So even the Commandments can change. Who’s to say that one of the other ones won’t also be changed by the Church? The Commandments aren’t set in stone. If you think they are, then show me the tablets.
The Tablets are in the Ark.
And where’s the ark?
ark, It’s lost.
It is hidden.
Read Chapters 11 and 12 of the Book of Revelation (the Apocalypse). There you will find the Ark as St. John did, coming down from the sky?
The Virgin Mary is the Ark of the New Testament as she bore the divine presence of the Christ Child within her, just as the ark of the Old Testament contained the presence of God. One of her titles in The Litany of Loreto is “Ark of the Covenant”. You need look no further for the ark.
Anne, great point. Even if we had the Ark, it’s lost its power. The New Covenant Ark, who brought us the Word of God and the Bread of Life, is the Theotokos, the Mother of God, the God-bearer. If we’re looking for supernatural truth and power, all we need to do is ask her and she will intercede with and point us to her Son, the living God. No need to trek dangerously across deserts. :)
But the Indiana Jones Theme is more rousing than any Mary song
She’s with her Son.
The church is a mess. When someone self-identifies as a Catholic, you don’t know anything about what he believes based on that affirmation alone. That goes for priests and bishops too. The church is a mess because it doesn’t have a firm, clear identity nor sense of mission. It’s like a club without a unifying purpose for its existence.
I mean, when Fr. James Martin, Peter Kwasniewski, Joe Biden, Cardinal Burke, Fr. Z, Sr. Helen Prejean, Bishop Barron and Bishop Strickland can all claim to be Catholic yet hold contradictory doctrinal and liturgical views, then there’s no unifying meaning behind being a member of the Catholic Church anymore.
That’s the chief problem. The church is a mess.
” It’s like a club without a unifying purpose for its existence.” How ironic that a Church with a Pope could be thus described. But this is true also of many Protestants. Depending on the denomination, you will get a wide variance on issues of faith and morals. In that sense one might say sadly, Christendom is a mess.
They can hold contradictory doctrinal and liturgical opinions, but the doctrine is what it is. It isn’t like protestantism where the doctrine is what you say it is. Some people are just wrong, they know it but are just gaslighting for whatever narcissistic, self promoting reasons.
You are conflating the Church with the sinners in Her.
” The LGBT community got even more attention than women. There were significant expressions of support for the Church’s efforts to invite LGBT Catholics into the heart of the Church at the present moment, but a sadness that these efforts are not more widely and deeply embedded. ” Translation the leftists are angry that Faithful Catholics will not submit to their perversions. There is no such thing as an “LGBT Catholic” you identify either as a Catholic or sexual perversion, in any event they need to be driven from the Church
They both need to lay off the pasta or cheeseburgers or whatever they are eating.
The Synod is pathetic, and a total waste of time. Instead, the Vatican should reform all Catholic schools and universities, worldwide, and require that all of them conform to Church teaching.
Anyone who thinks women should be ordained is wrong. Settled doctrine. Not gonna change. Can’t change.
Anyone who thinks LGBTs should be welcomed in the church on their LGBT terms is wrong. Settled doctrine. Not gonna change. Can’t change.
The problem is about 80% of Catholics are poorly formed in Catholic faith. They could be aptly described as ignorant. Why are ignorant people being listened to seriously, as if their misinformed and uninformed opinions have any value?
The church is not a democracy. Thank God.
The second sentence does not make a lot of sense as written. I have to infer that you mean that the Catholic Church will not permit same sex weddings?
I am not sure that either of the things you say is doctrine.
The Church cannot ordain women.
There are many lesbian, gay, bisexual persons in the Church and some transgender persons.
I think the percentage of poor catechized Catholics is much higher than 80%. Some are ignorant; some are willfully ignorant.
Point me to the “settled doctrine” that LGBT’s shouldn’t be welcomed in the Church.
What IS settled doctrine is that homosexuals shouldn’t be subject to violence or unjust discrimination, and SHOULD be treated with respect and dignity. Shunning, which is what you advocate, is a behavior contrary to respect and dignity.
Again, YFC, you omit important things. The poster didn’t say that LGBTs shouldn’t be welcomed in the Church simply. He/she said they shouldn’t be welcomed in the church on their LGBT terms, which I take to mean they cannot demand that the Church accept same-sex unions or marriages. That’s what LGBT Catholics want. Nope. Not in the Catholic Church.
Thank you for posting this. I looked at the report. There is much more of interest here. I see here something that I have not seen in other diocese. The mention of refusal of sacraments and curt priests is unique so far.
This is well written but there is more so click the link if you are interested.
The concern about what happens when this all gets to Rome is unique so far as well.
The comments from the synod participants should show the bishop the degree of understanding or of the ignorance of the participants in order to show the bishop where he needs to use prayer, the Holy Bible, the Tradition and the infallible magisterium of the church to teach the Truth. A bishop also would also be able to teach participants that they do not get to vote on or to push ideas that are not part of what God has always taught as His truth for the freedom of men and women. To use the comments of participants to change God’s teaching would be an abuse of the faithful, even though some may be angry because they are used to influencing change in the political arena. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251907/spanish-bishop-warns-that-the-synod-on-synodality-can-t-re-invent-the-mission-of-the-church
The contrived SD Synod was Cardinal McElroy’s vanity project. The results were as expected to further his docket: murky and equivocal, and an absolute exercise in futility for thinking Catholics.
People go to Mass, I have no idea what people really believed in back in the day. Nobody ever talked about abortion or lesbian rights or married priests back in the day. There was division over anti-war movements, and the Civil Rights movement. Liberal priests were out in the street leading open housing marches, Dorothy Day would be vilified now…..it’s always something age after age era after era.
But one thing remains the same, age after age, bishops are still really fat and need to go on diets…LOL
Communication is a two-way process. One speaks (Christ, His Church), and people listen (Christians, non-Christians). Then the listeners speak to show their understanding or lack of it. This current phase of this Synod effort is letting the listeners speak to show their understanding or lack of it.
Based on early reports, it is fair to say that there are way too many listeners who lack a proper understanding of Church Teaching. Many of these listeners hold certain expectations that their views will prevail. Their expectation is that the Church will approve of their views.
BUT, and it is a big BUT, we are CALLED TO FOLLOW CHRIST. We are called to change our views and behavior to be more in compliance with Christ’s Teaching.
Will the October 2023 Synod report call us to come back to Christ and follow Him more closely?
Sure Christ speaks to God’s people who listen. But if those people don’t say what they’ve heard, we cease to be a Church.
I didn’t bother attending any of these waste of time sessions. I think the Pope should be listening to the Holy Spirit, following the Magisterium and the doctrines of the Church in leading us — not seeking our guidance.
He is not seeking guidance. I think the main thing we learn is that the Church is not ready for this.
There does not seem to be any diocese in the US that understood the assignment. The preparatory document was so badly done that no one could understand it. So it just turned into surveys of Catholics or listening sessions that discussed problems in the US Church.
I think this has some merit but it also shows how far away from understanding the purpose of the Synod and synodality to work in union with the Pope to spread the Gospel.
It looks like the Archdiocese of Washington DC really attempted to do what the Synod Prep document said to do.
I am still studying it.
It does point out, again, that Catholics do believe in the Real Presence, at least the ones that participated in the Synod meetings and surveys.
Read the Catechism of the Catholic Church with the eyes of faith and reason. If you don’t like it, there are plenty of Protestant Denominations to choose from. The dogma of the one true Church from the apostles does not change, only the culture and politics around it. Deacon Vince
it’s like the lifeguard at the pool
asking the swimmers for pointers
on how to swim
No its not.
The church welcomes everyone, so there will obviously be a lot of opinions about the church. We are on a journey to find God. Who is he? What does he want of me? What is salvation? Reading a book, even our catechism doesn’t bring us to God, does it? lt only tells us what the church wants us to know and accept. All well and good, but at some point, we have to say “yes.” That may be well down on the journey. Some never make it. Some make it early in life. So yes, there will be a lot of views brought out in a synod meeting determined by the questioner’s point on the journey. It is wrong, I think, to be harsh about someone’s question or idea if they are not at the same place on the journey as we are. The best advice I ever got was when a spiritual advisor told me that the first thing that I should do in the morning is ask myself if there was a God. If the answer was yes, then I should pray to Him.
At least you got the journeying part.
I think that the point (and it was very confusing) was that we are all journeying together-to God, to Heaven.
We also want to bring more people on the journey, help those who are confused along the journey or who got distracted along the way.
It was not about people’s opinions about the Church.
I do not think that the dioceses understood this.
A weighty synod that should be considered is a synod on gravity. Many of us find gravity more and more troublesome as the numbers on our gravinometers keep increasing. Contrary to my doctor’s opinion, I am not overweight. I identify as thin and svelte. The problem is with gravity. It should be repealed, overturned or somehow changed by either the Vatican, Washington or Sacramento.
My light thoughts for today.
OK then.
It’s like Stevie Wonder leading Ray Charles
across the 405 Freeway at rush hour.
That would stop traffic. Oh yeah, traffic is already stopped at rush hour.
No it isn’t.
It is a barque. We are all on the ship. Some people are jumping off-they will be able to get back on.
Some people get on board when they discover the ship.
Some people are behaving badly on the ship-they are still on the ship.
Some people want to throw others off the ship.
There is no other ship that is going where we are going.
are you saying my barque is worse than my bite?